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Trump Threatens To "Bomb The Sh*t" Out Of Iran Without A Deal; Trump Says He "Loves" Inflation Despite Three-Year High; Ex-Child Actor Accuses Sean Combs Of Sexual Assault In New Lawsuit. Aired 7:30- 8a ET

Aired June 11, 2026 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:31:37]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump warning Iran this morning -- agree to a deal today or he will "bomb the shit" out of them.

Overnight, U.S. Central Command says it completed a second consecutive wave of strikes on Iranian surveillance, communications, and air defense sites. Iran hit back, targeting U.S. bases and also targeting allies in the region. Jordan says it intercepted 20 missiles.

Iran now says the Strait of Hormuz is closed to all traffic but U.S. Central Command disputes that.

Yet, after all of this, a diplomatic source tells CNN that talks are still on track between the U.S. and Tehran.

Joining me right now is Jane Harman, the former Democratic congresswoman from California who served as the top Democrat on House Intel in the years after 9/11.

What -- you were reacting in real time --

JANE HARMAN, PRESIDENT EMERITA, WILSON CENTER, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-CA): Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- to the developments from overnight. What is -- what are you thinking of it?

HARMAN: Well, who is the audience? The only people I can imagine want this to happen are Pete Hegseth, Lindsey Graham, and maybe Bibi Netanyahu personally. But everybody else wants this to stop. And I don't see that bombing the --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

HARMAN: "s" out of anybody is going to achieve successful negotiations, and it's not going to.

BOLDUAN: And this is maybe going back before we got forward but how far can the definition of a ceasefire stretch is one of my questions today.

HARMAN: Well, this is not ceasing. There is fire. So it's a non- ceasefire or it's a hot piece, or it's a joke. I mean, this is absolutely going in the wrong direction.

BOLDUAN: The -- I'm just being told by the control room that CENTCOM just posted, probably on social media on Twitter where they do post, that U.S. forces did what? Repeat. Just disabled an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. So this is -- I mean, hot piece is exactly what you're talking about.

HARMAN: Well, the tanker that they already disabled had three Indian nationals from India on it.

The 20 missiles headed to Jordan, our ally, were fortunately disabled before they caused damage, but they could have.

Oh, by the way, I think a reservoir -- a civilian reservoir was destroyed and there was a school a few months ago destroyed. So much for our good intel.

This is so dangerous and we have thousands of troops in harm's way not approved by Congress -- Congress, COCOA -- Congress always chickens out.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about the negotiating approach now stated by the administration. I want to play for you what -- we saw what said on social media -- said to -- said to -- in an interview he was going to bomb the you know what out them. But I want play for -- how Pete Hegseth said it to cameras just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: You could see when someone's trying to tap, tap, tap on a deal. Instead, they're going to have tap, tap, tap, bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America. If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs, and we're very good at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So I am not going to pretend to be a military tactician. When it comes to Iran could this work to get them to agree to a deal today? Is negotiating with bombs an approach?

[07:35:00]

HARMAN: It's an approach. Could it work? I would say the chances are zero to minus-five. And I think the chances of, sadly, a deal with Hezbollah in the -- in the south of Lebanon are zero to minus-five because I don't --

BOLDUAN: So where do you go now?

HARMAN: Bombs don't achieve negotiated results. Bombs are sometimes necessary. You know, I would love a negotiated result. I'd love one better than the Obama deal -- let's go there -- although I doubt that's achievable at this point.

Where are we going? Where is the strategy? We're going to endless war. Why does that make sense at a time when inflation is going up to four percent -- beyond four percent? Unemployment of college graduates is so low. Uh, prices of everything are high. Uh, gas prices are still high. The Strait of Hormuz is closed again.

And I know Trump said that we snuck some tankers through a little while ago. Why would you tell the Iranians that? Why wouldn't you continue to do that? That's actually kind of interesting.

I have no idea what sense this makes. And the part of government that's supposed to advise and consent is, you know, worried about the midterms, which they should be.

BOLDUAN: Thanks for coming in. There is a lot to work through but it all kind of adds up to the same, which is, like, this is a non- ceasefire. This is a mess.

HARMAN: There is one good news story.

BOLDUAN: Please tell me.

HARMAN: The Knicks.

BOLDUAN: The Knicks, the Knicks, which have nothing to do with the war in Iran, which is probably one --

HARMAN: But it's a six-letter word, not a four-letter word.

BOLDUAN: (Laughing)

Jane, you always surprise me. Thank you. It's good to see you.

HARMAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks for coming in -- Omar.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It's on everyone's minds, you know?

BOLDUAN: It's the only thing that matters.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

Look, we're also expecting some brand new data on inflation this morning. Some key numbers coming out in the next hour, which we will bring to you live.

But yesterday a report showed inflation hit its highest level in three years, sitting over four percent. And President Trump was asked if he was worried about the soaring inflation. Here's what he told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number which came out this morning? Could that be a --

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And he went on to sort of -- kind of trailed off there afterwards.

But I want to talk about it with CNN Business senior reporter David Goldman who is with me now. So it seemed like he said he loved it because maybe it would then come down. That seemed to be where he was going with it. But what do you make of all this?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, let's talk about it.

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: I mean, this certainly more foot and mouth disease. We've seen this from him saying that he doesn't care about Americans' finances. But is there really anything to love about inflation? I don't love it. I'm sure you don't love it.

But let's take a look and see what actually happened. Now, we had gas prices rise seven percent over the course of May --

JIMENEZ: Wow.

GOLDMAN: -- but that means 60 percent of the total gain that we saw in inflation. And so that, if you think about it, actually not a bad thing because we know why gas prices are rising and that's because of the war in Iran and because the Strait of Hormuz is closed. And this means we're not seeing those prices make their way through the economy yet.

JIMENEZ: Hmm.

GOLDMAN: That's not a bad thing. And so I don't think that they're going to fall like a rock for a lot of reasons, but it also means that lots or prices have nothing to do with Iran and that is a good thing.

We've also seen that oil prices are down 15 percent from their peaks in May, and gas prices have fallen for 21 straight days. Now, we're still above $4.00 nationally. It's not -- you know, no one loves what they're seeing at the pump. But this is good news as well and it means that in the next inflation report instead of the 4.2 percent gains that we saw maybe we'll see 4.5 or something like that. It's not going to surge the way that it has in the last couple of months.

One more good piece of news, this number -- 2.9 percent. If you strip out volatile prices like food and energy, that's what the Fed does because they don't know how to, you know, calculate for these really volatile prices. That is a number that the economy can deal with. It was only up 0.2 percent for the month. So is there something to love in the report, maybe -- but do we love inflation, no. And those numbers need to start coming down if Americans want to feel better about their finances, which certainly they are not right now.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, it's a big threshold. And even digging into some of the numbers in categories it's important to know the context, of course. But yeah, as you point out, at the end of the day inflation is inflation and it hurts --

GOLDMAN: That's right.

JIMENEZ: -- all around.

David Goldman, appreciate you being here.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Now look, Trump may love inflation, as he said, but some Republican senators are concerned about the fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I hope today's numbers will be a wakeup call because those prices are too high. We need some relief and Congress can deliver some relief. And if Congress doesn't deliver the relief, you know -- I mean, I think voters are not going to be pleased.

[07:40:05]

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Well, everybody's having some problems. We do have to get it under control.

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): I think people are really feeling it. I mean, it's not just gas prices, food prices, and other things. And I think there's a level of frustration.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I don't think people have a great deal of confidence in any of us right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: A lot to talk about here. Joining me now is co-founder of Punchbowl News, John Bresnahan. And Axios senior contributor Margaret Talev. Good to see you both.

Margaret, I want to start with you. Look, the White House is explaining the president's "I love the inflation" comment, you know. If you listen, he was sort of trailing off. It seemed like he was going to say it will come down at some point, but he never really got there.

But at the same time we are hearing Republican senators openly warn that voters are against -- are against it and are obviously against inflation.

Where does the GOP go at this? How do they reconcile, sort of, those two dynamics?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY (via Webex by Cisco): Uh, yeah. This is like the tail that's going to wag the dog all the way until November, Omar. And you know the old saying, "It's the economy, stupid." So it's inflation, stupid right now.

And the challenge I think for the president, for Republicans, and for any incumbent is that inflation has these kind of ripple effects, right? So it's not just inflation but we are waiting for interest rates to come down so you could buy a house. That's not going to happen this year. Um, if you want to invest in government debt now is a great time to do that. You'd get a very high yield.

But, you know, the stock markets are all over the map. The price of everything is impacted by all of this. So it's really a systemic problem that has waves to it. And when you look at the polling now, you're seeing, like, about a third of Americans say this is their top concern. And the trendlines are the problem because you're seeing a majority of Americans now saying they think this problem is getting worse, not better.

So for the president to convince voters of what it seemed like he was trying to do yesterday -- like this is a short-term problem and it's going to come down fast -- Americans don't believe that right now. So for them to believe that he either needs to address his messaging where they need to see the numbers come around.

JIMENEZ: Well -- and yeah. Believing those in power that will actually do something about this issue is a whole separate thing and it will be tested at the ballot box in November.

And John, you know, kind of in this dynamic, Speaker Johnson says the president's comments were taken out of context and the Trump is actually laser-focused on lowering costs.

How much will that resonate on the campaign trail? And even though Trump isn't officially on the ballot we've still seen his influence, at least in the primaries, to this point.

JOHN BRESNAHAN, CO-FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS (via Webex by Cisco): Oh, yeah. Trump is the issue of the election. I mean, he is the biggest issue. His conduct, the Iran war, his handling of the economy, his conduct in office.

I've got to tell you, I was on the Hill yesterday when he made those comments and they went through the Capitol pretty quickly and it was just -- you know, every Republican just winced. They were -- they're upset.

They -- the messaging you're hearing out of the White House is not about inflation. It's not about the economy. It's not about Americans' financial status, their overdue credit card payments. They're struggling to pay for school.

And every day that Trump is out talking about Iran, he's talking about other issues, he's talking about the 2020 elections is a disaster for the Hill Republicans. They are just -- it's a big problem for them.

Speaker Mike Johnson can talk -- you know, say Trump's laser-focused on inflation, but the American public doesn't think so. Congress doesn't think so. Even the Republicans in Congress, I'll tell you that. So this is a big problem for them.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, kind of along those lines, if -- Margaret, if inflation does remain elevated and energy prices stay high, which at least the latter it appears that it will, at least through the -- through the November election because of Iran, how much pressure does that actually put on the White House to make those adjustments, again, if President Trump isn't officially on the ballot even those under the party that he is leading will very much be?

TALEV: Yeah, it's a tremendous pressure point and I think that's why you see the current tactic to Jane Harman's earlier point. I'm not sure it's going to work but the stepped up pressure with bombing. The president clearly wants to bring this to a conclusion and move on but it -- once you get into something like this you can't -- it's -- you can't just, like, wave a magic wand and get out of it.

So the president is facing an enormous amount of pressure because, of course, if his party loses control f either chamber but particularly, both chamber, it will not only end his agenda but, you know, created an era of investigations for the --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

[07:45:00]

TALEV: -- second half of his presidency. So there's a lot of reasons for him to want to move on from this. The question is just can he do it and when will he do it?

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

Margaret Talev, John Bresnahan, I've got to leave the conversation there but thank you both for being here -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning more than 100 million people in the Midwest to -- from the Midwest to the Northeast -- they're under threat. Tornadoes, hail, and damaging wind. This is a day after powerful storms already swept across the region.

We're going to show you a tornado that was captured on video that rolled across Missouri. Just look at the size of that thing.

The storms yesterday knocked out power to more than 400,000 customers in the central part of the United States.

In Illinois -- we're going to show -- this is Illinois. This looks like hurricane-force winds down along the Gulf. No, this is Illinois with these winds whipping across that parking lot -- parking lot.

There were more than 1,000 flight delays and cancellations in and out of airports in Chicago because of this. Let's get to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, no one likes a flight delay or a cancellation but in wind like that I think everyone understands it for sure. What are we watching now today?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, and I don't know that I would want to fly in conditions like that either.

Yes, it is going to be multiday severe weather threat that we're experiencing. So it's not just what happened yesterday, it's not just what's going to happen today, but even over the next several days.

So here's another look. Here you can see the tornado off in the distance there. This is also in Missouri. But they weren't the only ones. We also had very powerful storms move through Ohio. You can see all of the lightning here in Kingsville just lighting up the sky for many of these areas, not just that particular location of Ohio. When you look at all of the total storm reports that we had, we picked up more than 350 of them in just the last 24 hours from those storms that kind of rolled through.

More of them are expected for today. You can see on the radar. Look at all of that lightning that is kind of hyper focused over portions of Iowa right now. It's also where we have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect that goes until at least 10:00 a.m. Central time. But it is very possible they will expand that and extend it out off towards the east in the coming hours.

We've also had lots of warnings off and on already this morning. You still have several of them right now, including a tornado warning and several severe thunderstorm warnings from this cluster of storms right there just to the east of Omaha kind of heading over into Des Moines.

Now the main focus for today is really going to be two distinct areas. You've got portions of the Midwest, including areas from Michigan back through Iowa, Illinois, and all the way down to Oklahoma and extreme northern Texas. But you also have this section right through here across portions of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. That includes New York, Philadelphia, D.C., all the way down through Richmond, Virginia.

Now, damaging winds are going to be the main concern, but we will also have a few strong tornadoes and even the potential for some large hail.

In addition to the storms it's all that humidity is going to make the feels-like temperature pretty unbearable in some spots. Take a look at D.C. The feels-like heat index for later today, 102.

BOLDUAN: 102 in D.C. With D.C. conditions that is -- that leaves a mark sometimes.

It's good to see you. Thank you so much. There is so much to be watching in terms of the weather today.

All right, also this. New this morning music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs now responding to disturbing new accusations that he sexually assaulted a former child actor. And how a drone helped deputies track down an accused arsonist.

We'll be back.

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[07:52:48]

JIMENEZ: Right now we are monitoring the market futures -- monitoring them here. A whole lot of green. Markets looking for a rebound though after the Dow had its worst day of the year yesterday, falling 953 points in an AI-related selloff.

And in the next hour we're going to have a key report on wholesale inflation in America that will be released. And this comes after last month's report saw that wholesale inflation blew past expectations, rising to six percent. The new data comes just 24 hours after a brutal CPI number showed inflation hit a year's high. Inflation across the board has been on the rise thanks in large part to rising gas and oil prices over the war in Iran.

But we're going to check back in the next hour with the brand new numbers -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Take a look at this video we're showing right here. Authorities in San Diego said a drone helped track done an arson suspect who allegedly set a fire that threatened multiple homes nearby. The flames forcing some of the residents nearby to evacuate.

Authorities said that the sheriff's drone spotted the suspect seen right there in a riverbed near the fire and they were then able to track his movements from the air. The man was later arrested near a highway interchange.

A man in Arizona found a lost credit card at a gas station with rock legend Alice Cooper's name on it. The heavy metal icon, also known as the godfather of shock rock, accidentally left it there while golfing near Phoenix earlier in the week. The Good Samaritan was able to contact Cooper's team to return it, and he even got to meet the rock star.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICE COOPER, ROCKSTAR: If I found the card, you know, I would -- I would say I don't know how to get this to right person. Luckily, they live right here, and this is synonymous with me, you know. So that was -- that was a good call.

GEOFF GUY, RETURNED ALICE COOPER'S CREDIT CARD: That was a good call. You know, the guy is a legend for people of my generation, that's for sure. And, uh, it's -- I'm really glad that I could help get it back to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Yeah. It's nice to just highlight people being nice. Alice Cooper's birth name is Vincent Damon Furnier. I'm sorry, I

didn't -- did not -- if I butchered that, I'm so sorry. And he legally changed his name to Alice Cooper back in the '70s -- hmm.

[07:55:05]

So a -- the whole entire crew is laughing at me right now.

A dazzling display in Barcelona last night as Pope Leo was on hand to bless Sagrada Familia -- the Sagrada Familia Basilica. The church's famous stained glass illuminating before the crowd of thousands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Light show at Sagrada Familia blessing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Just stunning.

It did not end there. Check out the face the appears in the sky -- there you see it. That's Gaudi, the architect who designed the iconic Spanish landmark and its 18 towers more than 140 years ago. His face then turns to the structure that is now the tallest church in the world.

Omar, what a sight.

JIMENEZ: Uh, you never look at me like that, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Because --

JIMENEZ: Like that. That is like with so much attention. I mean, beautiful display.

BOLDUAN: If I had -- if I had designed you 140 years ago --

JIMENEZ: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- and finally saw you come to fruition, I would look at you like that as well.

JIMENEZ: Yeah, yeah. All right, all right. I've got goals. Things to work on.

All right. So look, we're covering a lot of news this morning. We talked about this in the headlines. We're going through some new and disturbing allegations against Sean Combs.

A former child actor has filed an anonymous lawsuit accusing Combs of sexually assaulting him at a networking event in Los Angeles back in 2007. And the complaint is the latest in a series of legal challenges for Combs who is currently serving a four-year federal prison sentence in New York.

Now, a representative for Combs denied the new allegations telling CNN "Mr. Combs unequivocally denies these allegations. This complaint describes events that allegedly occurred nearly 20 years ago and is based solely on the plaintiff's account." The statement goes on to say, "We are confident that the facts will demonstrate these claims are without merit."

Combs has not been criminally charged in connection with these new claims, we should mentioned.

But joining me now is CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson.

Still a lot to go through here because Combs already serving a prison sentence and appealing that conviction. But his is a new civil lawsuit involving allegations from this former child actor.

Legally, what is different when the accuser alleges he was a minor at the time of the assault?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yeah. So Omar, good morning to you.

Very important distinction, of course, as it relates to this being a civil case. Civil cases -- the remedy is about monetary damages that a minor can certainly have relief from. Now, here's just the explanation as to that.

You might look and say this is from 2007 as we look at the allegations there and say that's almost 20 years ago. How does this pass muster?

When you're a minor, you're afforded additional protections, Omar, and under the protections here this is a state lawsuit, not a federal lawsuit. The state of California allows you to file until you are 40. You have up until you're 40 years old. Now, a new law was passed, I should say, but that doesn't begin until allegations from after 2024 where there's no statute of limitation.

So that fact that you're a minor at the time you still can be afforded relief, and there will be relief here. There's a number of allegations, as we know, within the complaint. The issue is going to be whether they can be sustained since it was almost 20 years ago.

JIMENEZ: Um.

Yeah. The lawsuit also just doesn't just target Combs. It also names the talent agency, arguing it failed to adequately protect a minor client.

What is the duty of care that the agency owed? I mean, how does that change things if at all?

JACKSON: So what happens is that certainly in the event that you were the talent agency or talent agencies as here that were responsible for getting work for a minor you do have a duty if you're on notice. Now, when you deal with these negligence claims, which are lawsuits again from the civil variety, in the event that you are sending someone out who is a minor and you happen to be aware -- that's going to be an issue here -- that there were proclivities -- inclinations to Combs who might have been -- again, these are all allegations -- a predator, then you certainly should afford the requisite protection.

The allegation in this complaint is that there should have been a chaperone or someone who could afford some level of supervision over the minor to the extent that the talent agencies -- the allegation is fell short in that regard. There is some responsibility. Obviously, this will be a matter for a jury to determine.

We should note, Omar, that unlike a criminal case where the standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard of proof here is by a preponderance of evidence. What does that mean? Very briefly, it just means is it more likely than not that this occurred. There's allegations in the complaint about sexual assault, sexual abuse, intentional infliction of emotional distress, all fancy terms.

The underlying issue is was I in fear of being assaulted sexually? Was I actually touched in a way that was inappropriate?